Reinvigorated, finally...

Hello long lost needlework friends! It's been so long that I wasn't even sure I remembered how this blog worked, in fact I believe it's going to take a bit of time to get me up to speed.


I've been hearing that some of you know I am designing again and if you heard that, you are right! I have about 8 new samplers finished and am at the stage of formatting, framing, photographing and all the other loose ends of getting things going.


About 5 years ago, my computer hard drive died. Yes, some of my patterns were saved on an external hard drive but not all and frankly, not the ones I really wanted. At the time I was going through a rough bout of empty nest syndrome as both my children left home for college at the same time. It took a while to get used to it and I was thoroughly down about it and not up to doing anything about my patterns until this year actually. And suddenly, I got bitten by the stitching bug again and here I am, back and hopefully not forgotten. My plan is to open an Etsy shop soon. In fact, I thought it would be later this month but issues with framing have cropped up and that timeline will have to be pushed further away.


For those of you going to Christmas in Williamsburg, it is now called Annie's Needle Arts Festival/Christmas in Williamsburg
and I will again have sampler pendants and some domino books for sale along with a few patterns from the old days such as my Memorial Sampler and Peaceful Paradise.

I was hoping to have my latest samplers there but that story will wait until tomorrow's post which is about framing issues. Yes, bold type for a serious issue! In the meantime, I will show you a couple of the latest that were successfully framed. This is Suzy Moo's Sampler:

I challenged myself to design a cow and Suzy was the best I could do. I am not an artist, I simply wing it as best I can. Someone asked me, "Is that a dog?" and I was going to name this "No, That is Not a Dog" sampler. Then a good friend said I should give her a name and started throwing out names like Suzy Q, which is pretty adorable, and eventually she became Suzy Moo. The verse is appropriate, "There is None Like Thee on Earth, Not One". I found that on an antique sampler and it was fitting, there truly is none like Suzy Moo, the polka dot cow, on earth.


This is a sampler that survived the crash of '09 and is one I was wanting to release and then just put aside after it was stiched. It's simply called "Time".

And look what a fabulous framing job was done by Aaron Bros.

They wrapped the mat with silk fabric which is lovely in person. Suzy Moo was also framed by them, quick and no problems. I like that in a framer.

As I said, we will talk about framing tomorrow, the good, the bad and the really bad. Yes, Hobby Lobby, I'm looking at you. Again bold because they seriously messed me up.

And last but not least, I think I left the blog shortly after posting my "Seven Sins and Seven Virtues" sampler. Another lost to the crankiness of my hard drive. However, where there is a will there is a way and this past week I found a printout of the colors I had used in this piece and spent 8 hours going pixel by pixel from my framed piece and reproduced it in Patternmaker. That was a good day and I felt quite accomplished when I was done. My eyes don't thank me for that since I stitched it on 40 ct fabric.

Back tomorrow with more.

Domino Birthday Book

Thank you for the nice comments on my little sampler book! Here is a birthday book I made for a friend. I think I would like to sell these and will keep you posted here about that. I won't do a tutorial as there are already some on the web. Here is one I followed: Domino Book Tutorial

Domino Book

These little domino books are like potato chips, I have made at least 5 different ones this week. This one has a sampler theme and I thought you would enjoy seeing it. I'll post a few later that I did for friends, a little birthday book and one for my MIL with a Japanese theme.

Memorial Day

~We heal, feed, clothe, minister to, teach, educate, fight for and free more people around the world than any other country. We are Americans. God Bless our fallen soldiers. God Bless the USA.~

Another UFO Finished

I am really going to have to do a better job with taking photos as this one is crummy! However, I wanted to get a photo put up to show another UFO that I finished. I designed this maybe 4 years ago and was about 1/2 done when I stopped. I picked it up again 2 weeks ago and finally finished it, yea me!

This is from the October 1998 issue of Just Cross Stitch. Perfect for me due to my worrywart nature.

Making Resin

For a while last fall I was busy making resin pieces. Here is one I did for Halloween using a JABC button. I need to start up again because it is a very satisfying and fairly easy process. I just put everything away at the holidays because it is rather messy and haven't resumed it yet. Here is a link I found quickly that explains a bit more if anyone is interested: http://www.how-to-make-jewelry.com/resin-jewelry-making-2.html

An assortment today

I know "The Secret Life of Bees" was published at least 10 years ago but I was able to read it this weekend and highly recommend it. Because of this book, I decided to finally finish my "English Cottage Sampler" (from Chessie N Me) that I started a few years ago and make some changes to it.

My name means Queen Bee and since there is a queen prominently pictured on this piece I decided to stitch a huge bee over her head. I also added a few things to her empty hands as I didn't like her standing there with elbows bent holding nothing so I added a bird and a flower. Instead of "E" for "Elizabeth" underneath the crown I put the initials of my husband and children. And if you look closely, you will noticed I made a big mistake and stitched 3 r's in the second Merrily of the verse. It makes me laugh to look at it so it is staying. To be honest, the main reason it is staying is I HATE frogging over one!



This next piece is from The Floss Box
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Her designs remind me somewhat of the old Birds of a Feather designs which I have always loved. She also sells them on Etsy.

Thrift Stores

Anyone else here love thrift stores? I have been finding tracing wheels at my favorite thrift store lately, 50 cents each. They remind me of my mother who was a good seamstress. I never like to write "sewer" as it doesn't look correct! I found the little red sewing basket at a thrift store a few years back and it matches the powder blue one I had as a child.

The pincushions came from Etsy. Have a look at her pincushion dolls!



http://www.etsy.com/people/PiccalilliPatchwork

UFO's

I saw this antique unfinished piece of needlework a while back. It is gorgeous but I find it sad it was never finished as then it could have been spectacular.


Seeing this piece got me thinking about the number of UFO's I have and the guilt made me pull one out last month and finish it up. It only required backstitching, which I find tedious and which is why it was set aside. It has been waiting around for me to finish it since 1997!



So here she is, from Shepherd's Bush!. 15 years is a long time to sit around and it is not the first piece I would pull out of my "want to do" folder today. But she is done and I am much happier because of it. How many UFO's do you have waiting patiently for you to finish them?

!

Gift for a Friend

Recently a friend was going through a tough time and I decided to make her a "Jar of Encouragement". In the jar are inspirational quotes printed on folded paper, the idea being to take one out and read it when needing a boost. This led to making a whole box of different things to go along with the jar, a scented candle, mints, drawer sachets, a small journal, anything I thought would be a pick-me-up. I found the wooden container at a thrift shop and decoupaged the antique bird postcard I had printed onto the front of the container. Here are a few photos and a couple postcards in case you would like to try something similar.

Coffin Buzz

As many of you know, I haven't stitched or designed a thing for almost 2 years. About 2 months ago it was nagging me how many unfinished projects I have, so I pulled one out and finished it. That spurred me on to start something new and when a friend bought a new house I knew just the project to stitch for her housewarming present, Coffin Buzz, a freebie from Paulette Stewart

Choose your own fabric and thread and this stitches up really fast, I enjoyed it so much. Thanks Paulette!

Antique Samplers

I came across quite a few beautiful samplers this weekend that I'd like to share with you. Enjoy! The Solomon's Temple sampler is especially beautiful and you don't see many reproductions of it. I have images of several antique Solomon's Temple samplers and will share soon.

Lady Baa-Baa

I've been so neglectful...

I am still here, but it's been a busy time since mid August due to traveling and once again a computer breakdown that has lasted about a month. I promise to update very soon. Gotta get my email back to working but in the meantime I am really here to ask for prayers for Peggy, my friend with ALS. Her time is near and she and her family could use as many prayers as possible. Thank you so much and I will be back with more when I can.

Some antique samplers

It's a lazy day and I thought I'd upload some unrelated photos of antique samplers. I think they are fun to look at.

Day One--Antique Samplers

If you know me or have been reading here any length of time, even five minutes,this is a pretty obvious and easy to guess love of mine, antique samplers. I don't know what first attracted me to them, probably many things, the history, the handmade crafting of them, the colors, the verses. I never tire of seeing a sampler whether antique or newly designed but the antique ones fulfill something within me. So I thought it was appropriate to start Day One of my 100 things I like in 100 days project with something obvious and a subject most here can identify with. I think they speak for themselves.

Mail!!

Today I received this wonderful piece in honor of my mother from my good friend, Janet. Janet and I have known each other at least 10 years and have been through quite a few trials and tribulations together and I appreciate her gift and thoughtfulness more than she realizes. Thanks again gf, I'm always here for you just like I know you are for me.